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The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), a partnership tool founded under the Kyoto Protocol, grants potential opportunities to help developing countries achieve sustainable development. The present research examines the CDM projects in Eastern Europe (Moldova, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Albania). Although there were far fewer projects in this region than, for instance, China or India, it has some specific features that make it worth studying. Major findings are that most CDM projects in Eastern Europe involved a changing combination of two or more sources of financing, and the distribution of projects in the region was uneven. Moreover, although there was a small number of projects overall, they were all cost-effective, long-term and large-scale. The findings of the research call for improvements to be made to the governance of the CDM, by strengthening the international and national regulation of projects and by aggregating the scales of decision-making and actions so that real multi-scalar transnational governance — from the global level down to the local level — is implemented in a coherent manner. It is also recommended to carry out ex-post project evaluations, following which readjustments could be made.

A gravity model is used to investigate the impact of the stringency and enforcement of the environmental regulation on Spanish investment flows abroad during the period 2008–2018. From the pollution haven hypothesis’ (PHH) perspective, the research tests if offshoring and outsourcing processes from Spanish multinational enterprises (MNEs) were due to movements through FDI of high-polluting industries seeking refuge in countries with a low standard of legal environmental protection framework. The analysis includes FDI into primary, manufacturing, construction, wholesale and retail, professional services, leisure services, utilities, and other services. When no sectoral approach is developed, PHH seems to be not held. However, the multisectoral perspective states that MNEs in primary and manufacturing sectors seek refuge in countries with a low standard of legal environmental protection framework.

Este artículo explora la manera en la que las autoridades de la Unión Europea afrontan el riesgo de un efecto rebote que dificulte la efectividad de los esfuerzos hechos para mejorar la eficiencia energética. La elección de la zona de la UE se debe a su liderazgo internacional en la batalla contra el calentamiento global y el cambio climático. El artículo hace una mención específica a España por ser uno de los estados miembros de la UE más concernidos por estos problemas. Para hacer esto se realiza una sistemática revisión de la literatura siguiendo las técnicas avanzadas que recomienda el estado del arte. Después de esto, los principales hallazgos del artículo son 1) existe un amplio consenso académico en torno a la importancia del efecto rebote como barrera en la mejora de la eficiencia energética, 2) existe una falta de consenso sobre su tamaño, 3) los textos legales que abordan los objetivos en materia de eficiencia energética habitualmente ignoran el problema del efecto rebote.

Policymakers and scientists are paying increasing attention to how social norms can promote pro-environmental behaviour and sustainable energy use. We contribute to this field by experimenting with and assessing the impacts of social norms on low-carbon mobility options. Taking Sweden as a case study, we develop two complementary randomised controlled experiments to: 1) analyse the role of social norms in promoting the adoption of car sharing services (CSS) via descriptive and injunctive norms (N = 720); and 2) investigate potential crowd out effects when injunctive norms are used to promote a low-carbon transport hierarchy (N = 730). First-order effects show that social norms have a positive but marginal impact on the willingness to adopt CSS, and only injunctive norms have the potential to steer behaviour in the desired direction. Results also suggest that concerns about potential substitution effects between low-carbon transport options and CSS are not valid. With due limitations, our findings have various implications for policymaking, notably that for social norms to be effective, other policy instruments are critically needed. Of particular importance are the environmental effectiveness of CSS and complementarities between public transport and active mobility (i.e. walking and cycling). Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICIN). España RTI2018-096725-B-I00

This paper explores whether the changes in energy intensity in Spain have led to improvements in the energy consumption levels or to a backfire effect offsetting the expected decrease. Jevon's paradox or backfire effect happens when a rebound higher than 100% causes energy efficiency improvement to raise energy consumption. To test Jevon's paradox or the backfire effect caused by energy efficiency actions, a Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index I (LMDI-I) is used for the Spanish economy. The period under consideration ranges from 2000 to 2015, when three national action plans were implemented. The main methodological novelty of this paper consists on to block the economic activity effect in a second decomposition round to better explore the effect of energy efficiency on energy consumption. As a whole, our results do not support Jevon's paradox for the sectors analyzed. However, they do warn about a possible backfire effect in the industry, transport and service sectors. Major findings follow these same findings when the activity effect is blocked.

Focused on Ecuatorian’s Economy this article analyzes for the 2000-2014 period. i) What have the drivers of CO2 emission in Ecuador been? ii) What are the determining factors to be focused on with regards to energy policy efforts and the mitigation of GHG emissions? And iii) Is the economy of Ecuador moving towards decoupling between economic growth and environmental stress? To respond to question i) a decomposition analysis of the change in CO2 emissions has been developed using the LMDI-I model. The decomposing factors or effects used include Carbon Intensity, Renewable Energy Sources penetration, Energy Intensity, Economic Structure, Economic Activity and Population. To answer question ii) a so-called Innovative Accounting Approach (IAA) has been implemented. Another innovative aspect of the methodology used has been to incorporate decoupling analysis between economic growth and environmental stress. This facilitates answering question iii). This is the first time that a comprehensive model is undertaken as described. FEDER/Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación – Agencia Estatal de Investigación y Proyecto RTI2018-096725-B-100 Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) y Consejería de Economía, Conocimiento, Empresas y Universidad de la Junta de Andalucía US1260925

Proyecto RTI2018-096725-B-100, financiado por: FEDER/Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación y Ministerio de Universidades – Agencia Estatal de Investigación Urban mining by recyclers represents a positive environmental impact as well as being part of the waste management chain. This paper analyzes the contribution of waste pickers in the city of Cuenca in Ecuador and the conditions of their activity. This research has a two-fold objective. First, it calculates the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the substitution of virgin raw material in the production process by using recycled urban waste. The second objective is to conduct a socioeconomic analysis of the workers involved in the urban waste sector. Cuenca (Ecuador) is the main city used for this case study, thanks to the accessibility of a rich database built from the survey conducted by the NGO Alliance for Development. The information contained in this survey facilitates the identification of potential consumers of the waste industry. This study uses Clean Development Mechanism methodology. Finally, this work proposes a theoretical model for solid waste management, applied to the city, following the principles of the circular economy. Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación y Ministerio de Universidades RTI2018-096725-B-100

The rebound effect caused by energy efficiency improvements demands greater attention from energy policymakers as it represents an important obstacle to energy consumption reduction measures. Despite the emerging literature about the rebound effect, no studies to date have managed to break down it. To do so, this study introduces the disruptive innovation of replacing the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index method used in previous literature with Structural Decomposition Analysis. Based on Input-Output tables, a re-spending model allows us to assess the Indirect Rebound Effect for 14 productive sectors. Finally, Structural Decomposition Analysis enables us to determine the Economy-Wide Rebound Effect caused by energy efficiency improvements. As far as we are aware, no other study to date has done so. Spain is used as a case study for the 2000–2014 period. Major findings indicate that total rebound effect varies from nearly to 10% to around 50%. The part of rebound explained by Direct rebound effect is around 10%. Indirect rebound effect shows values between 1.2% and 1.8%. Finally, Economic wide rebound effect varies from −4.51% to around 40% but without showing a clear trend for the period considered. The novelty of this study is that it attempts to break the overall rebound effect down to the direct, indirect, and economic wide rebound effect by combining the Cobb-Douglas production function and decomposition techniques.

The aim of this paper is to analyze the economic and environmental aspects of installing PV facilities for residential electricity users. This paper explores, in a conservative approach, the installation of a PV capacity to compensate the consumption with the production for each moment, never feeding electricity into the utility network and without storage. The approach proposed is illustrated by applying different power PV capacities in alternative locations (Marseille, Madrid and Seville), using the hourly demand provided for the smart meters. Combining the load curve of each user, the irradiation and PV production of each location, the cost of equipments, the hourly emission in the whole market, the variable price of electricity for residential users and the energy needs to build a PV facility. The model calculates, for each individual the optimal PV power to install and the emissions avoided. The results show that, with the current cost of the PV facilities and variable prices of electricity, the PV are, from an economic and environmental point of view, profitable in all the locations analyzed. This initiative will be more profitable for private investors and, additionally, for the environment in the next three years. A massive installation of these facilities in Spain and France will contribute to achieving their Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) of the Paris agreement (COP-21), fulfilling, in Spain, the current legal restrictions.

A decoupling elasticity analysis and a two-level decomposition analysis of energy consumption in Colombia from 2000 to 2015 are developed. Firstly, the decoupling elasticity approach is used to analyse the importance of energy consumption changes in relation to the GDP changes. Then, a Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index analysis is carried out, decomposing the changes in energy consumption into four effects: Population, Activity, Structural and Intensity. Secondly, a decoupling index determines the main drivers of the inhibiting effect on energy consumption. The results show that the Population and Activity effects contribute to the country's increase of energy consumption, while the Intensity effect and, to a lesser extent, the Structure effect help to decrease it. From a sectoral perspective, variations in the energy consumption are mainly caused by the Transport and Industrial sectors. In the light of the results obtained, current decoupling-oriented measures are steps in the right direction, but more efforts should be made because until now they have not been effective. New policy recommendations are provided.

This paper offers systematic and innovative information to the usage of electrical vehicles (EVs) in Spain between 2007 and 2012. Five different EV categories are analyzed. The data is broken down by provinces and regions. Likewise, the study analyzes the evolution of EV use as well as the percentage of EVs in each category with regards to the total number of vehicles in a given category, with the percentage of EVs per 10,000 habitants. In addition to this, the paper provides detailed information about the legislation promoting the use of EVs, both in the European Union (EU) and in Spain. The article includes an assessment of the promotional measured used for EVs for their growth rate. Finally, the authors provide a number of recommendations about the type of efforts to be undertaken by the authorities of Spain and the EU to increase the use of EVs. In Spain, the development of the electrical vehicle stock has increased annually for each of the categories. Nevertheless, the relationship with the total number of vehicles, EVs have failed to reach 1% in any of the categories. The ratio number of EVs per 10,000 inhabitants has increased in each of the provinces, with more than twenty provinces (44%) having a ratio that surpassed 1 EV/10,000 inhabitants in 2012.

In this study, an Index Decomposition Analysis-Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (IDA-LMDI) model was developed to find the drivers behind the changes in CO2 emissions between 1990 and 2012 in Colombia. The results facilitate the assessment of the impact in Colombia of the main measures regarding the mitigation of CO2 emissions. Likewise, it allows us to analyze whether the recent measures implemented by the Colombian authorities to mitigate emissions are moving in the right direction. To carry out the decomposition analysis, six effects were taken into consideration: carbonization, the substitution of fossil fuels, the penetration of renewable energy, energy intensity, wealth and population. The effects of income and population appear as drivers of emissions for the period analyzed. A stylized analysis allows richer conclusions to be extracted regarding a battery of recommendations for emission mitigation policies that are compatible with economic growth in Colombia.

This paper evaluates two smart energy management models for the Spanish electricity system in terms of power consumption savings, CO2 emissions, and dependence upon primary energy from abroad. We compare a baseline scenario with two alternatives. The first model entails the reduction of the power demand through energy savings measures, smart meters, and self-supply. The second model entails the application of all measures included in first scenario, plus measures oriented to electric vehicles. For each model a sensitivity analysis was performed. Results show that both models can result in reductions of peak loads, CO2 emissions, and energy dependence.

This paper quantitatively evaluates the performance of Chile's CO2 emissions between 1991 and 2013 using a ‘complete decomposition’ technique to examine emissions and their components. A decomposition analysis based on log-mean divisia index method (LMDI I) was conducted. Six decomposition factors were considered: Carbon Intensity effect (CI), RES penetration effect (RES), Energy Intensity effect (EI), Economy Structure effect (ES), Income effect (Yp) and Population effect (P). To know how these factors could influence each other in the future, the Innovative Accounting Approach (IAA) was used, including forecast error variance decomposition and Impulse Response Functions (IRFs). These two methodologies allow us to identify the drivers of CO2 emission changes in the past (1991–2013), test policy measures and learn how these drivers could influence each other in the future, to evaluate whether the current measures meet the Paris commitments. The LMDI analysis results show that the Energy Intensity Factor is the main compensating factor of Chile's CO2 emissions and the only effect with a clear trend to aid the economy's decoupling. IAA and IFRs results react similarly and confirm that carbon intensity reacts to shocks more significantly in the short term. The reaction to RES has the same and opposite behavior to shocks in ES and Yp, to disappear in the long term.

Structural improvements in aircraft design, seeking to improve energy efficiency, can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by reducing reduced fuel consumption. This research reviews improvements with the introduction of a structural component known as "winglet;" these are positioned at the top of the aircraft wing, and increased Airbus Group A320 sales. Data used are taken from air traffic in Spain for the 2010–2014 period with projections being made for 2020. The results show that winglets reduce CO2 equivalent emissions associated with Spain's air transport for the 2015–2020 period between 66.29 and 59.56 Gg. depending on the scenario considered in 2020. Junta de Andalucía proyecto SEJ-132 Fundación Roger Torné, Universidad de Sevilla, Cátedra de Economía de la Energía y del Medio Ambiente 1394/0103 Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad de España ECO2014-56399-R Universidad Autónoma de Chile

Higher levels of ozone in the troposphere is a severe threat to both environment and human health. Many countries are concerned about the effects that critical levels of ozone have on them. Countries pollute to satisfy their domestic and external demand (production perspective) and, at the same time, these countries also generate emissions abroad indirectly via their imports and via their domestic production (consumption perspective). Spain is one of the EU countries with the highest pollution records in the emissions of tropospheric ozone precursor gases. A multiregional input-output model (MRIO) allows us to analyze the total emissions embodied in Spanish international trade in 35 sectors within the EU area and the rest of the world. MRIO models, are commonly chosen as they provide an appropriate methodological framework for complete emissions footprint estimates at the national and supranational level The results show that the most polluting sectors involved in Spanish trade are Agriculture, Basic Metals, Coke and Refined Petroleum Production. Some policy recommendations follow these results; for example, a higher number of environmental regulations focused on the Agricultural sector, such as the introduction of codes of good practices in the use of fertilizers and the promotion of cleaner production technologies might lead to less burden to the environment.

A set of 17-year panel data (1996&ndash, 2013) across a representative sample from eighteen Latin American countries is used to respond four research questions: Did Latin American Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions prove the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis? Did the quality of institutions play a compensating role for income on environmental stress? Did technological progress help decouple income from environmental stress? Has the Pollution Haven Hypothesis (PHH) been proven? In order to answer the research questions, the paper expands the traditional EKC approach by including an exclusive quality analysis of institutions, technological progress, and PHH as part of the model. This innovation is developed considering the most recent literature about EKC as a starting point. Major findings show that the relationship between income and GHG emissions is adjusted to the traditional EKC hypothesis for the analyzed period. They also show that the quality of institutions and technological progress improve environmental sustainability. However, the variables, Foreign Direct Investment and International Trade, provide a negative answer to the fourth question. The main methodological contribution of this paper is to use a threefold extended classic EKC model to conduct the feasible generalized least squares method. The paper also contributes to the growing body of PHH literature.

The paper conducts a comprehensive analysis of replacing residential use of wood burning stoves for heating with photovoltaic systems for the generation of electricity using storage batteries (PV + storage systems). The research focuses on the city of Temuco (Southern Chile) as a case study, since this city has a high use of firewood for heating (80% of households) and also because this city has been declared by authorities as an area saturated with suspended particles. The total cost corresponds to the acquisition of systems. The reduction of monetary value of the impact of polluting emissions, resulting from the combustion of firewood, on health and traffic accidents is calculated. The interactive tool GDB Compare has been used to calculate the impact of pollution on health both in terms of attributable deaths and disability-adjusted life years. The monetary value of the impact on health has been calculated using two alternative approaches: the value of statistical life and the human capital approach. To identify firewood use requirements, heating degree&ndash, days has been used for temperatures &le, 15 &deg, C and &le, 18 &deg, C. The emissions avoided calculations have been refined, including emissions associated with the manufacture and transport of systems through the life cycle analysis. For all scenarios, the main results show that the savings outweigh the costs.

The Spanish wholesale electricity market remains controversial due to the suspicion of there being collusive behaviour, as the main generation companies still share 55% of the wholesale market. Up to 2018, the Spanish National Competition Authority had to investigate all the complaints received, contributing to discouraging collusive behaviours in the electricity market but also employing a significant amount of resources. Since 2018, the ECN + Directive has given more independence to the National Competition Authorities of EU Member States and has allowed them to reject the complaints that are not considered a priority and choose the most relevant ones. This paper provides a tool that makes the supervision of the wholesale electricity market easier and enables a better use of resources. The tool is tested for a timespan including the same month (December) from 2012 to 2017. The period selected starts once non-conventional renewable technologies began to operate and lasts until the ECN + Directive came into force. In the first two steps, the tool allows a screening of the timespan, looking for possible anomaly periods based on the variance values of the daily electricity cost and the average monthly value. Secondly, the third tool step presents a methodology based on a spatial LMDI-I decomposition analysis. This approach allows analysing the key driver effects that explain the differences between the daily cost of electricity of some technologies and the monthly average of those periods pointed out in the two previous steps. To ensure robustness, the same approach has been tested on control periods prior to and after the anomaly month.

Despite its environmental benefits, the amount of Electric Vehicles (EVs) in use within the European Union 28 is still very limited. Poor penetration might be explained by certain factors that dissuade potential buyers. To balance these factors and promote electro-mobility, Member States have established incentives to increase demand. However, the various measures are scattered. This paper contributes to fill the gap in the literature by offering an overall view of the main measures. The authors will focus on measures to promote electro-mobility within the EU28 until 2014. After an in-depth and comprehensive review of the relevant measures, the authors conclude that the most important policy instruments to promote EVs are tax and infrastructure measures in addition to financial incentives for purchasing and supporting R&amp, D projects. Regardless of the scarcity of EV registration data, the available information allows us to conclude that higher EV penetration levels appear in countries where the registration tax, the ownership tax, or both taxes have developed a partial green tax by including CO2 emissions in the calculation of the final invoice.

This paper analyzes the impact of students’ proactivity on academic performance based on a sample from students enrolled in an introductory course of Political Economy at the University of Seville (Spain) in three consecutive courses (2014–2015, 2015–2016 and 2016–2017). Proactivity is measured by several indicators, such as class attendance, case-study oral presentation and its delivery in a foreign language, all of them being non-mandatory activities for students who have participated in the experiment. Specifically, this study aims to assess the impact of a student’s proactivity on two academic outcomes: (i) to pass or fail the exam; and (ii) the score obtained. Impact assessment has been performed using a probit and ordered multinomial logit models. The results show that a student’s proactivity measured by class attendance and case-study presentation significantly increases the probability of passing the exam, while the impact of using a foreign language seems to be non-significant. In relation to the score obtained, the proactivity measured through the case presentation raises the probability of obtaining a higher mark more than regular class attendance.

An extended version of the IPAT model and the ‘Kaya identity’ is used to assess the contribution of drivers of CO2 emissions for the 1995–2009 period. The paper carries out a multisector analysis based on the Log-Mean Divisia Index Method (LMDI I). The decomposition factors used are the Carbon Intensity factor (CI), the Energy Intensity factor (EI), the structural composition of Spain׳s economy (Economy Structure, ES), the Economic Activity factor (EA) and Population (P), respectively. Data came from the World Input–Output Database (WIOD) and determined the period under consideration. The paper focuses on the 35 productive sectors included in the WIOD. Major findings show that RES acted in detriment to the drivers of CO2 emissions. This may be stated for the last few years under consideration. The positive trend for the share of RES in Spain׳s energy matrix, together with the negative tendency in the use of fossil fuels, leads us to be optimistic.

At the Conference of the Parties held in Copenhagen in 2009 (COP15), the Chinese government announced its 2020 commitment to reduce the carbon intensity of the Chinese economy to 40–45% of its 2005 level. A number of analysts have criticised this target, indicating that these reductions can be achieved without the implementation of any active climate change policy. In this paper, we test this argument using a combined input–output based econometric projection approach and the World Input–Output Database (WIOD). Our results show that the projected carbon intensity for 2020 is likely to be 50% lower than the carbon intensity of 2005, without additional active climate change policy measures performed by the Chinese government. On top of it, our study indicates that the total volume of CO 2 emissions would be by 2020 seven times the volume of the year 2005.

This paper estimates the impact of a hypothetical change in Spain's energy mix on a number of productive sectors. The change would be brought about by substituting power generation from natural gas with generation from biomass. The total amount of electricity supplied has been calculated to remain constant so that a crowding-out effect would be derived from the displacement of one technology with another. An input–output (IO) framework has been used to estimate the overall economic impact on 26 productive sectors included on Spain's 2007 IO Table. Based on the available literature, the consideration of net impact improves the analysis. The results show that the overall net impact across all productive sectors of this change in the energy mix would be positive and equal to about 0.5% for the period. Higher impacts were measured for the ‘Electricity power and Electricity Supply’ sector (15.4%) followed by the ‘Agriculture, Hunting, Forestry’ sector (7.1%). Only the ‘Gas generation and Gas supply’ sector showed a negative impact (–2.5%), which is consistent with the reduced use of natural gas. The overall calculated total impact for Spain's productive sector was equal to € 8074.95 million at the 2007-equivalent value.

Cities are one of the main agents behind the introduction of electric vehicles. In Spain, cities could establish up to a 75% deduction on vehicle tax based on environmental issues. This paper analyzes those variables affecting the establishment of such a measure using the Probit model on a sample of 395 Spanish municipalities. The results show that the urban population, its dispersion, and the municipalities’ environmental commitment positively affect the establishment of such incentives, while the rural nature of the population and unemployment do exactly the opposite.

This chapter evaluates the cumulative impact (2014–2020) that a tax on electricity consumption would have on it consumption in Spain. Changes in electricity consumption are caused by increasing purchasing prices due to tax. Impact on revenues and CO2 emissions are also assessed through a model price. Tax reform is inspired on final report presented by a Group of Experts commissioned by the Government of Spain in 2014. The evaluation has been performed by considering two scenarios, without (Scenario 1) and with tax recycling between the new tax and employer-paid Social Security benefits or with tax using a price stability tool (Scenario 2). Data comes from the Social Accounting Matrix at purchase prices for Spain in 2006 (SAMESP06). Right rates of a carbon tax designed on electricity consumption would range between 6.24% and 5.52% to reach the total target.

This paper provides an estimation of the socio-economic impacts of increasing the production capacity of installed solar parks in Andalusia (southern Spain). Solar parks use photovoltaic technology for electricity generation. A CGE (computable general equilibrium) approach is used to capture impact assessments of an increased roll out of solar parks in Andalusia on production activities, employment and other macroeconomic variables as a consequence of increasing power output by this means to 400 MW by 2013 as stipulated in the program named as ‘PASENER (Plan Andaluz de Sostenibilidad Energetica) 2007–2013’ implemented by the Andalusian Regional Government. Results show that compliance with the PASENER goal would increase the activity level of the economic sectors considered by 3.1 %, and total employment generated would reach 215,148 equivalent fulltime jobs lasting one year. The other macroeconomic variables considered would also increase. The deployment of the photovoltaic technology would provide up to 527,573 tonnes of CO2 abatement if it displaces an equivalent installed capacity of thermal plants.

This article provides an economic assessment of greenhouse gas emissions savings associated with the use of biofuels for the transportation sector in Spain. The reference year used is 2010 in accordance with the target for the implementation of biofuels and other renewable fuels set down in European legislation (Directive 2003/30). The assessment is based on the premise that an increased use of biofuel will displace a similar amount of fossil fuel on a BTU basis, with the amount of biofuel used in 2010 taken as a reference point to conduct the estimates. The results show that the most cost-efficient biofuel is the biodiesel obtained from waste oil. Regarding the differences between first- and second-generation biofuels, the results show that the latter had very high associated costs. Reaching the biofuel target for 2010 by primarily using first-generation used-oil biodiesel blends would have led to a saving of 58°M€. In contrast, reaching this target by exclusively using second-generation biofuels would have led to a 1000 M€ increase in total costs.

This paper aims to estimate the economic impacts of increasing the production capacity of the installed biofuel plants in Andalusia (southern Spain). A computable general equilibrium (CGE) approach is used to calculate the changes in the economic sectors' activity, in employment as well as in GDP and other macroeconomic variables relevant to biofuel plants in Andalusia under two distinct scenarios (i) based on an operating biodiesel plant (with 90 ktoe/year of installed capacity); (ii) upgrading to 2174 ktoe by 2013 in compliance with the regional ‘Plan Andaluz de Sostenibilidad Energetica (PASENER) 2007–2013'. Results show that compliance with the PASENER goal would increase the activity level of the economic sectors considered by 3.04%, the total induced employment generated would reach 167,975 equivalent full-time jobs lasting one year and the GDP would increase by 9.82%.

The aim of this paper is the analysis of structural decomposition of changes in CO2 emissions in Spain by using an enhanced Structural Decomposition Analysis (SDA) supported by detailed Input–Output tables from the World Input–Output Database (2013) (WIOD) for the period 1995–2009. The decomposition of changes in CO2 emissions at sectoral level are broken down into six effects: carbonization, energy intensity, technology, structural demand, consumption pattern and scale. The results are interesting, not only for researchers but also for utility companies and policy-makers as soon as past and current political mitigation measures are analyzed in line with such results. The results allow us to conclude that the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol together with European Directives related to the promotion of RES seem to have a positive impact on CO2 emissions trends in Spain. After reviewing the current mitigation measures in Spain, one policy recommendation is suggested to avoid the rebound effect and to enhance the fight against Climate Change that is tax benefits for those companies that prove reductions in their energy intensity ratios. Junta de Andalucía SEJ 132 Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad ECO2014-56399-R Ministerio de Educación (Chile) 018/FONDECYT/16

The European Union's (EU) Directive 2003/30/EC [1] set an objective of reaching a 5.75% share of renewable energy as a proportion of the total energy consumption of the transport sector by 2010. As all the Member States (MSs) of the EU-27 were obliged to comply with this directive different public policy measures were developed and implemented to promote the use of biofuels in transport—biofuels being the main renewable energy source (RES) in this sector. In this article, we review the public measures undertaken in the EU-27, and show how these measures primarily involve tax incentives and biofuel blending mandates on fuel sales. All countries, with the exception of Finland, introduced tax incentives of various types to promote the use of biofuels, while 18 MSs also implemented biofuel blending mandates through the passing of legislation relating to this matter.

The volume of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide) to the atmosphere generated by Spain's economic activity is calculated by applying an Input–Output model. The research takes the Social Accounting Matrices for Spain over the years 2002–2007 (SAMESP) as a starting point, from which emission vectors are obtained for each of these years. The results show that the main sectors by volume of emissions are “Electric power and heating”, “Transport”, and “Agriculture, Stockbreeding, Forestry and Fishing”. The values of the emissions calculated with the vectors obtained from SAMESP are very similar to those of the emissions finally registered. Emission vector values diminished in most sectors during the period considered, particularly with respect to the “Electric power and heating” sector in the case of carbon dioxide production. The “Agriculture, Stockbreeding, Forestry and Fishing” sector was an exception to the fact because a trend for decreased emission was not recorded for any of the gases. From the calculated vectors, we estimate that the 20% reduction of GHG emissions required of countries in the EU-27 by 2020 will be accomplished by reducing carbon dioxide emissions, even though emissions of methane and nitrous oxide are likely to increase.

In addition to public policies aimed at improving the energy efficiency of buildings, EU authorities have also promoted the use of Renewable Energy Sources for heating and cooling uses (RES H&C). This paper analyses the main policy measures implemented in EU-27 countries up to 2009: i.e. subsidies, tax incentives, financial support and feed-in tariffs. Twenty-three Member States (MSs) have developed some of these policy measures. The most widespread measure is the subsidy (22 MSs have implemented these) because from a political point of view, subsidies provide a straightforward approach to promote the use of RES H&C. Secondly, tax incentives have been used for reducing investment costs and making renewable energy profitable. Thirdly, financial incentives and feed-in tariffs have been used sparingly. While financial incentives might be used more extensively for promoting RES H&C if they are accompanied by other policy measures, feed-in tariffs are not likely to be implemented significantly in the future because this measure is not designed for household heat producers.

This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the main tax incentives used in the EU-27 member states (MSs) to promote green electricity. Sixteen MSs use tax incentives to promote green electricity simultaneously with other promotion measures, especially quota obligations and price regulation. However, not all available technologies are promoted. For example, six MSs (Germany, Romania, Slovak Republic, Denmark, Sweden and Poland) have included an exemption on the payments of excise duties for electricity when the electricity is generated from renewable energy sources (RES). This tax incentive is the most widely used. Limited tax incentives in personal income tax are available in Belgium, France, Czech Republic and Luxembourg. In corporate tax, tax incentives consist mainly of a deduction in the taxable profit (Belgium, Greece, Czech Republic and Spain). Lower tax rates in VAT are applied in three MSs, France, Italy and Portugal. Only Spain and Italy use effective tax incentives in property tax. As a great diversity of tax incentives has been used to promote green electricity, this adds another difficulty to the EU objective of providing a renewable energy policy framework, but also it offers a useful set of case studies which can be used to inform EU policy development.

The goal of this article is to calculate the cumulative impact of the tax on the retail sales of certain fuels (IVMH, in Spanish initials) and its effects on some fundamental economic variables, on the price indices and on remaining tax collections. The novel aspect of this work is to use as methodology a very simple price model applied to a regional Social Accounting Matrix (SAM)–instead of a input-output table–done for Andalusia where we introduce a new tax. The main results of this article show that the introduction of the IVMH in the regional economy may be provoke marginal variations on economy prices. There is also a global increase of tax collections of 0.057%.

This paper evaluates the Diagnostic Program in Spain which is a publicly funded program to promote internationalization of companies located in Andalusia (south of Spain). The methodology used is the propensity score-matching. The treatment group consists of companies which participated in the Program until 2008. The control group has companies which planned to participate in the Program but had not done so up to that date. The response variable measures the ratio of export to total sales for each company. Four covariates have been taken into account: activity, location, sales and number of employees. The analysis leads to the conclusion that the companies that participated in the Program improved their ratio of exports to total sales by about 10 percentage points.

Este artículo estima las intensidades energéticas sectoriales de la economía española. Para ello se aplica el análisis de multiplicadores a la Matriz de Contabilidad Social para España del año 2006 elaborada por Ordóñez (2011) en diversos escenarios derivados de la endogeneización de las cuentas de Trabajo, Capital, Consumo e Inversión. Los resultados muestran que existen importantes variaciones entre sectores y que los mismos se enriquecen con la endogeneización de las cuentas. Los propios sectores energéticos son los que mayores necesidades presentan, junto con otros como Materiales de construcción, Industria química y Transportes y comunicaciones. This paper estimates the sectorial energy intensities of the Spanish economy. The multiplier analysis is applied to Social Accounting Matrix for Spain in 2006 elaborated by Ordóñez (2011). Energy intensities are estimated in different scenarios when labor income, capital income, private consumption and investment accounts are treated as endogenous. The results show that there are significant variations among sectors and that they improve when accounts are treated as endogenous. The energy sectors are those that have the highest energy intensity, along with others such as Building materials, Chemical industry and Transport and communications. Junta de Andalucía SEJ-132 Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación CICYT ECO2010-21706 Ministerio de Educación CICIYT ECO2009-11857 Generalitat de Catalunya SGR 2009-578

The share of renewable energy source (RES) in gross final energy consumption was 10.3% in the European Union (EU-27) in 2008; the remaining 89.7% was covered through the use of conventional fuels such as natural gas or oil products (Eurostat, 2010). The renewable energy share in gross final energy consumption was used for the production of heat (5.5%), electricity (4%) and transport fuels (0.8%). Deployment of RES contributes to two of the four targets of the EU-27 energy strategy: the need to reduce primary energy dependency and the stress of demand on primary energy resources. In addition, the Green House Gas (GHG) abatement due to a more intensive use of RES contributes to improve the EU-27’s target related to climate change, this being the fourth target in its energy strategy. From a legal point of view, The Green Paper (EC 1996), which was the first attempt of establishing a common policy on renewable energies in the European Union, settled down the goal of duplicating the contribution of RES in the gross domestic consumption in 15 years. From the year 1996 until the present, the European Union has developed an intense ruling activity around the promotion of RES. An important step forward the construction of the Community framework about harmonized fiscal treatment was the passing of the Directive (EC, 2003/96), that restructures the community regime about taxation over energy products and electricity. In order to improve on energy efficiency, the most important EU policies for the households sector are the EPBD (EPC 2. Gross final consumption of energy from renewable sources for heating and cooling (H & C); and 3. Final consumption of energy from renewable sources in transport. IEA (2009) has recently pointed out that part of renewable energies growth is due to strong policy support. Therefore, policy measures to promote RES are becoming an interesting issue in its deployment.

Solar thermal electricity is a type of renewable energy technology of special interest for Andalusia (southern Spain) because of the large number of annual sunshine hours. This paper estimates the impact on productive activities of increasing the production capacity of the installed solar thermal plants in Andalusia. Using a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) approach, estimates of the changes in the economic sectors’ activity under two different scenarios are obtained: i) based on two types of solar thermal electricity plants currently in operation; and ii) based on an increase from 11 MW in 2007 to 800 MW installed capacity by 2013 to comply with the ‘Plan Andaluz de Sostenibilidad Energética (PASENER) – Sustainable Energy Plan for Andalusia’. For the case of a parabolic-trough solar collector power plant, results show that compliance with the PASENER goal would increase the level of the productive activities by around 30%. For the alternative technology – a solar-tower power plant – results show that activities would increase by around 5% for 30 years, the estimated lifetime of this type of plant. Thus the impact of the solar thermal electricity plants on the productive activities of the PASENER compliant production goal would be remarkable. Keywords solar thermal electricity, computable general equilibrium model, renewable energy JEL Classification Q28, C63, Q43, JRC.J.5-Agriculture and Life Sciences in the Economy

This paper provides a production and consumption-based empirical macroeconomic-climate assessment of Sweden’s CO2 emissions. The core methodology is based on three complementary quantitative methods, namely energy-economy-environment indicators, econometric analyses, and a multi-regional input-output (MRIO) sectoral model. Based on the latest available data (1971–2011), indicators show a sharp decarbonisation of Sweden’s energy supply mix pre-1990, and reductions or reversals in energy intensity, CO2 intensity and energy use post-1990. Reductions in energy intensity are mostly attributed to substantial increases in economic activity rather than reductions in energy use. Econometric results show that variability of CO2 emissions is best explained by CO2 intensity than any other tested variable. The MRIO model shows that the Swedish emissions trading balance is negative with both the European Union and the rest of the world (i.e. embodied CO2 emissions in imports are higher than embodied emissions in exports). Sweden’s low-carbon intensity is a critical and horizontal explanatory factor in our results.